About Phil Browne (BiggsTrek)
Phil Browne (BiggsTrek) is an old and well-known name in the iClone community. When I say old, I mean all the way back to when we had to tame squirrels to run in cages just to power our computers. Ok, maybe not that old but I have a hard time remembering the early days of iClone without him being around. It wasn’t just being around either, it was inspirational to see his work back in the days when iClone was more toy than the tool it is today.
His work has always pushed the envelope for iClone. He has consistently demonstrated what is possible with iClone and CC4. His smooth style and lack of concern for over-the-top visuals versus a strong story (narrative) are hallmarks of his work. I’m not knocking his visuals either. This man can take community assets from the iClone users Marketplace to build an aesthetically pleasing scene, well laid out and pleasingly lit to a point that you don’t have to squint to see everything.
He can adapt to different genres with his own clean, eye-pleasing personal style that puts his stamp on a production as if he had signed it.
To top it off, he is a non-professional (I hate using amateur as that doesn’t do this animator justice) storyteller, citizen director, hobbyist… whatever term you wish to use, and he is not alone in the iClone userbase. This type of user is essential to the growth and stability of iClone and other Reallusion products. Their support and feedback have shaped these products into what they are today.
One other thing to know about BiggsTrek is that he has a history of following through and finishing projects that include an interesting story and great visuals to move that story along. He proves you don’t need a huge budget or team to produce great animated stories.
It is with great pleasure that I present to you the following questions and answers from the talented iClone community member and digital artist known to many as BiggsTrek aka Phil Browne and I hope that you will take time out from your busy schedule to jump on over and watch the inaugural episode.
The Interview
Q: You are a longtime iClone user. Do you remember when you first discovered iClone and what drew you to it and to stick with it over the years?
I used to use “The Movies” by Lionhead. When TMO (The Movies Online) was about to shut down I started looking for alternate software to do my animated movies. There were a few options at the time, like Moviestorm, but the best and most advanced seemed to be iClone, so I gave it a try. I wasn’t disappointed! I’ve been using it ever since and even though I probably use less than half its full potential, it has served me well.
Q: What do you feel the advantages are of using iClone and/or Character Creator (like ease of use or short learning curve and so forth)?
For me, iClone was fairly easy to use, and more importantly, allowed me to do pretty much anything I wanted regarding animation and storytelling. I’ve tested a few other animation packages over the years, but I always come back to iClone. Character Creator can feel a little daunting to use at times (so many sliders!), but I love the quality of the results, and you can’t argue with that.
Q: Like many of us you use community assets, and you were around early on when there were practically no assets. Do you feel that the community Marketplace has matured into a more diverse market of assets that can serve many needs removing one of the earlier hindrances to iClone production?
I love the Marketplace! These days, it’s the first place I go when looking for a particular asset or even just browsing for inspiration. The quality of props, costumes, etc. has definitely improved over the years. I used to use the 3D Warehouse (was Google, now Trimble) and while that had a diverse range of props, the quality wasn’t that great. The Marketplace has definitely helped fill that gap as it has grown and made available many fine artists and their work.
Q: Some iClone pipeline users turn to 3rd party software like Unreal Engine or Omniverse for more advanced rendering but you have always made the iClone native render work for your productions. Is there a specific reason you like the native renderer and/or do you have any tips to pass along when using iClone as the production renderer?
Making movies isn’t a quick process for me (I tend to tinker a lot), so I try to keep things simple where I can to help offset that. Adding an extra step (3rd party rendering) doesn’t really appeal to me, plus I don’t have a PC that can actually support Unreal at this time. As it is, I’m actually pretty happy with what iClone itself can produce. And I sure hope they keep improving it in the years ahead.
Q: What draws you to animation? Storytelling, animating… both?
I guess it comes down to storytelling, mostly. I like being creative, and animating allows me to do that in a more entertaining way than with just words or images on their own.
Q: As a filmmaker/animator is your work driven more by the visual, narrative, or a bit of both?
Narrative. I certainly like the visuals, but I have to have something more going on than just “pretty pictures”. I remember a time where most people seemed to just make music videos (not that’s there’s anything wrong with that!) but when I made one, I made sure it had a story as well. (For those that are curious, it is “Some Of Us” a song by Ally Miller, created in “The Movies”.)
Q: When did you start to realize that you had artistic/creative traits?
This goes back to my childhood. Even as a young adult, I used to draw just for fun, and write silly little stories. And now that I’m older it hasn’t changed much, all these years later. Just the means to do it!
Q: Your past work shows an interest in Lovecraft and science fiction with Haunter of the Dark coming to mind and now Forbidden Planet. Are there other genres that you have a fondness for?
My first love is Science Fiction, but a close second is Fantasy. I made a movie a few years ago called “Under The Shards Of Athena” that is mostly Fantasy with a little Sci-Fi. I like mixing genres together. For instance, I’m also working on a Noir movie that has elements of horror, fantasy, and comedy. And who knows what I’ll do after that!
Q: Your iClone production of HP Lovecraft’s Haunter of the Dark hit YouTube in October of 2011 with, as of recently, over 110,000 views and I thought it was one of the best iClone projects to come to fruition, particularly at that time, considering that iClone had not matured into the animation software it is today. Do you remember what version of iClone Haunter was produced with?
Yes, I do indeed. iClone 4. I actually did some tests in iClone 3.5 (that was my first version of iClone – I still have the box on my shelf!), but when iClone 4 was announced, I delayed production until I could get the upgrade. I believe they had several improvements to character creation that I wanted to exploit, and some other new features that I can’t remember offhand. I also remember thinking that I wanted to show people what iClone was capable of; that it was more than just a music video creator. It was challenging, but worth the time and effort.
Q: Can you speculate on what it would be like to produce Haunter with iClone 8 versus the version you used back in 2011?
First and foremost, the characters would look SO much better if created in Character Creator. (The faces and bodies of the old characters could certainly do with a makeover.) And maybe the assets would be better, now that the Marketplace has so much more to offer. I’m pretty sure 90% of the props in the old movie came from the 3D Warehouse and were pretty basic.
Q: Do you have any advice you would give to anyone wanting to get into animation? How to get started?
I’ll pass on something that a friend told me, many years ago: Just do it. (No, it wasn’t Nike!) Even if what you create doesn’t go well, you can always go back and fix it, or try again. But if you never start, then you have nothing.
Q: Why the Forbidden Planet series? What inspired you to produce this?
I’ve always loved the original 1956 movie, and Robby the Robot in particular. When I first started animating, I wanted to make a movie based on it, speculating what may have happened after (the original movie never got a sequel or remake, which is surprising for Hollywood.) But it wasn’t until I got iClone that I saw that it was possible for me to do so. While it took a few years, even making a few test clips with Robby now and then, I’m glad I finally got the story started.
Q: You used AI voices from Eleven Labs if I remember right. I suspect a lot of readers and users will be interested in this aspect as we don’t always have a budget or resources to hire voice actors. How was the learning curve on getting the AI voices to “act” as you wanted them to?
It was remarkably easy, though you do have to play around a bit, and try various voices to find the right fit. The website is simple to use and the results are remarkably good. This film (Forbidden Planet – Children Of The Krell) became a test of the concept to use only artificial voices. I think it worked!
Q: In my case, I learned little things like typing in “eye clone” instead of “iClone” for a proper readback. How long did it take before you were comfortable with using the AI voice interface and getting acceptable results with the AI voice acting?
While some of the voices I used worked well, others did not always pronounce things the way I wanted. In some cases, you can do as you said, basically spell things phonetically (“Bellerophon” was a challenge) but in other cases, I had to use different methods. While most of the voices I created using Text-to-Speech, eleven labs also supports Speech-to-Speech. This is basically a voice changer, but way more advanced. It keeps the performance pretty much intact, but changes the voice dramatically. For instance, I actually voiced the two female roles using this method to get the performances I wanted. While they aren’t perfect, it still worked pretty well (not many people have actually noticed the voices were artificial!)
Q: Was using AI voices the experience you thought it would be? Something you’d readily do again?
It worked better than expected. When I first started playing around with these artificial voices, I figured I’d just use them for a couple of the characters but ended up doing them all this way.
I’ll definitely use it for the rest of the Forbidden Planet series. However, there’s nothing quite like a human that you can explain things to and get a better performance. At least not yet…
Q: What are your future plans for the Forbidden Planet series?
Well, I’m working on Chapter Two right now. Initially, I was going to go back to my Noir film, but as the “Children Of The Krell” has been so well received, I felt I should get stuck into Chapter Two before doing anything else. I have a couple new characters I want to introduce in the next chapters and I’m trying to keep them as diverse as possible, e.g.: the new Chief Engineer and the Captain of the Perseus. I believe the whole story will have between three to five Chapters, depending on how long I make each part. I have the story written down in note form, but I like to change things occasionally, so it’s not set in stone. But the script for Chapter
Two is complete and right now I’m gathering assets and creating the new characters in CC4.
Wish me luck!
MD McCallum – WarLord
Digital Artist MD “Mike” McCallum, aka WarLord, is a longtime iClone user. Having authored free tutorials for iClone in its early years and selected to write the iClone Beginners Guide from Packt Publishing in 2011, he was fortunate enough to meet and exchange tricks and tips with users from all over the world and loves to share this information with other users. He has authored hundreds of articles on iClone and digital art in general while reviewing some of the most popular software and hardware in the world. He has been published in many of the leading 3D online and print magazines while staying true to his biggest passion, 3D animation. For more information click here.
